Reuters reports that according to the data from People's Bank of China, Chinese banks extended 1.36 trillion yuan ($208.86 billion) in new local-currency loans in February. Analysts had predicted new yuan loans would fall to 950 billion yuan in February, down from 3.58 trillion yuan in the previous month and compared with 905.7 billion yuan a year earlier.

Broad M2 money supply in February grew 10.1% from a year earlier, above estimates of 9.4% forecast in the Reuters poll. It rose 9.4% in January.